Lee.k,

Welcome onboard
We have a FEAR OF FLYING ... what is it, how to overcome it, Q&As topic as well as one dedicated to the airline; THOMSON AIRWAYS ... Q&As. We also have extensive aircraft information with links to seat plans, aircraft and cabin photos on our What Aircraft? guide (link below) that you may find useful.

Is it the MAN-POP-MAN (TOM136/7) you're on? Your flights are operated by former Thomsonfly Boeing 767-300/ER (long haul). There's nothing to worry about with regards to the approach in to or out of Puerto Plata. From a pilots perspective, it's no different than flying in to most other Caribbean airports or even Sanford that you have been to previously. Winds vary day by day and is no different than what you could expect to find in Manchester so it's nothing to worry about. Aircraft have their limits in what conditions they can land in and the pilots are very experienced in what they do. If it wasn't safe to make an approach or land, the flight would be diverted to an alternate airport that is planned in to the flight just in case. There's honestly nothng to worry about flying in to POP, I flew in to there myself last year.

Darren

Darren,
Thanks for the welcome, and the information.

It is the MAN POP MAN (Tom 136/137) I will trawl through and see what I can find out.

You seem to be the man in the know re aircraft, is the 767-300 an extended version of what I presume would be a 767-100 and 767-200, if so why wasn't it just designed this size? in addition if it is an extended version, do they just add an extension of the body section? dose this have an effect on the structural abilities of the aircraft.?

Lee.k,

Most of the aircraft information you might want to know is on our What Aircraft? guide. At present, it's G-OBYG operating the flight but that can of course change between now and then. The 767-300/ER operating the flight is the extended range version of the 767-300 family of aircraft. It's a 6.4m strech of the original -200 series aircraft. There wasn't a 767-100, but there's another streched version, the 767-400. When aircraft are extended, a few extra ribs are installed forward and aft of the wings to lengthen the fuselage so more seats can be added. In the case of the 763, it was 3.05m forward and 3.35m aft of the wings. It's not as simple as that as the aircraft weighs more and therefore landing gear needs beefing up and in the case of the -400, a modified wing too. The ER version also has extra fuel capacity. The structural abilities of the aircraft aren't compromised as the aircraft is designed to take and excede all loads required inflight with a safety margin. They can handle pretty much anything nature throws at it. You don't need to worry about aircraft structure, it wouldn't have an airworthiness or type certificate if it didn't meet all regulatory requirements.

Darren